Safety lapses caused accident that killed Kentucky coal miner, federal agency says
An accident that killed a Kentucky coal miner in March happened in part because the mine operator didn’t do a required examination to spot and correct hazards, according to a federal report.
Another factor was that the operator didn’t install proper support for the roof of the mine, which collapsed on James Brown, 33, of Lynch.
“The accident was totally preventable,” said Lexington attorney Tony Oppegard, who represents Brown’s widow, Darla, in a workers’ compensation case resulting from the accident.
The accident happened on March 20 at the D-29 Darby Fork underground mine near Holmes Mill, in Harlan County. The mine is operated by INMET Mining, LLC, a subsidiary of Industrial Minerals Group, LLC.
Brown, who had 13 years’ experience as a miner, went to work at 10 p.m. and was assigned to work with another miner to move a waterline and a high-voltage power center inside the mine, according to the report from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).
A massive section of the roof measuring 20 feet wide, 52 feet long and five feet high fell during the work, burying Brown.
The rock fall also hit the mechanized scoop being used by another miner, Paul Robbins, but he was under a protective metal canopy and was not injured, according to the report.
Robbins and another miner searched around the pile of rubble but couldn’t find Brown. It took workers nearly 24 hours to remove the rock and recover Brown’s body, according to the report.
The coal company had started retreat mining a few days before the fatal accident. In retreat mining, workers remove pillars of coal left intact during the initial mining phase, which help support the roof.
The mine operator, INMET, anticipated the need for more support for the roof in several spots because of the added stress that would be caused by retreat mining, and installed more bolts, the report said.
However, in the spot where the collapse happened, the company did not have employees install adequate extra support for the roof, even though the geologic conditions and hazards were the same there as in the area where the operator did shore up the roof, according to the report.
The failure to install additional support contributed to the accident, MSHA said.
The mine operator also didn’t do a required exam to look for potential hazards in the area of the roof fall before sending miners to work there, the report said.
That exam should have included checking the soundness of the roof.
During the investigation, inspectors saw cracks indicating separation of a section of the roof from a massive sandstone later above, the report said.
The lack of an exam contributed to the accident, MSHA said.
The agency classified the violations as aggravated conduct constituting more than ordinary negligence, and an unwarrantable failure to comply with a mandatory standard, MSHA said.
An unwarrantable failure is the most serious violation level, said Oppegard, who formerly worked at both the federal and state mine-safety agencies.
Those types of violations typically result in fines. The federal mine-safety law does not have strong provisions for criminal penalties, but should, Oppegard said.
“There should be criminal penalties attached to this,” he said.
Efforts to reach INMET Mining were not successful.
Brown was married and had three children. His obituary described him as a wonderful father and a loving and protective husband who had a great sense of humor and was an avid hunter.
“His family meant everything to him and they were the reason he went underground each day,” the obituary said.
Brown “was never one to take handouts,” his obituary said, so during times he was laid off from mining, he trained for certification as a utility lineman and received a commercial drivers’ license.
Brown’s death was one of two fatal coal-mining accidents in Kentucky in 2022.
In the other, 32-year-old Cecil Collett, of Pennington Gap. Va., died when a large tree at a surface mine in Bell County fell on the pickup truck he was driving.
